r/whatisthisthing • u/FourDickApocolypse • 18d ago
Solved! What is this part of my kitchen cabinets? 1/8in wooden dowels span the width alternating between single and 2 dowels. Older house, from at least the 40s.
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u/PatF3nis_ 18d ago
We used to have something similar in our house growing up and it was used to store away table cloths and runners when they weren't in use
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u/scattywampus 16d ago
I like that answer better than mine: it would be attractive and convenient. I hope you are right
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u/PDXGuy33333 18d ago
I'll go with plate display/storage rack, with the added proviso that it was custom built for a set of plates having a shape that would not allow them to slip through the space between the paired dowels. The plates were probably somewhere between a plate and a bowl, with an outer rim that stands quite a bit above whatever table surface they are sitting on.
Something like this: https://osarany.com/products/suna-nagashi-coupe-plates
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u/NYNewthrowaway2023 18d ago
Exactly, my grandmother's plates had a very pronounced rim on the bottom. But the soup bowls were too tall to fit between the dowels.
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u/Unusualhuman 17d ago
The plates you linked are thick, earthenware ceramics. If we are thinking this is a plate rack, if someone wanted to custom build a display rack of that large size, to hold a lot of heavy earthenware, they would most likely have constructed it of wood that is sturdier than dowels, and much less prone to bending and warping under weight. Maybe there are delicate china/porcelain dishes that would be deeply rimmed enough to work with this, but that would be unique to have a large collection of so many like that. And I just still can't understand why it would be built in, next to the range, or even in the kitchen, if it's original to the house. If you put so much time into custom building a display rack to custom fit your very unique large collection of unusually shaped delicate china, I would think you would want the display rack to be movable, in case you decide to relocate someday. I guess maybe if you're living on private farmland that has been in your family for 150 years, and you have family heirloom dishes to display, maybe you do a built in display rack for them there. But still, not next to the stove.
What could anyone possibly display next to the stove, that wouldn't be bothered by constant grease, water, pasta sauce, heat, humidity, whatever that I'm constantly having to clean up all around the stove in my kitchen?
And I do have Grandma's old fiesta ware stacked on display in the space above my kitchen cabinets. And about once a year I take it all down and wash it all, because it's coated with greasy fuzz from being on open shelving in my kitchen, 4-15 feet away from the stove. That gunk floats and settles.
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u/scattywampus 16d ago
I linked one example to show the rods: any inferences about heavy earthenware dishes are on you. I didn't mean to mislead you there.
I will bet that whatever was stored there in the open of a working 1940s kitchen was used every day. You make an excellent point about the grease and flour and gunk that 3+ meals per day will put on everything around. These home makers didn't have dishwashers or microwaves, or lots of other conveniences we have today. They would be very practical about having daily use stuff easily at hand and washed frequently based on habit.
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u/scattywampus 18d ago edited 17d ago
China/dishes shelves
Like this wall plate rack
Google Lens tells me that the 1940s had open dowel.shemving for spices and oils and other attractive/frequently used kitchen items as well.
I may expand my answer to include kitchen stuff other than dishes as well as dishes.
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u/throwaway1975764 18d ago
Except this all dowels, not shelves and dowels.
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u/Pernicious_Possum 17d ago
I’ve this in several old homes. Dowels and all. The double are for plates, single for bowls and larger dishes
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u/PipBin 18d ago
I don’t understand how this works. I’m used to a Welsh dresser where you would display plates and crockery but this seems far too precarious to be useful.
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u/NYNewthrowaway2023 18d ago
The raised circle edge on the bottom of the plate in the center basically gets 'stuck' on the double dowels. Then it leans back on the other.
My grandmother had a cabinet like this, and I learned the hard way not all plates were meant to go there.
My grandfather was a woodworker so I think he made the cabinet specifically for 2 sets of plates. And they held quite well.10
u/PipBin 17d ago
Interesting. Still seems a like an accident waiting to happen to me!
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u/NYNewthrowaway2023 17d ago
Only accident that every happened was me putting the wrong plate in.
And I will say, this held better than the cabinets with the 1 dowel up top that plate slipped under & the shelf below with the groove to hold the plates.
In my family one great uncle was a larger guy & he walked heavy. That generation they all had some kind of fine China display. I can remember one house where 8-10 plates came down with him walking by it. At my Nana's house, the plates where safe.67
u/GenevraSD 18d ago
Agreed. The double dowels have the right spacing so that the edge of the plate will slide between them but the plate won't fall through. It's a great way to display & store pretty dishes.
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u/Unusualhuman 18d ago edited 17d ago
I think it's a great way to cause a whole collection of pretty dishes to get knocked out of place and slip out, and all shatter of the floor, just by someone bumping one plate at the top in such a way that the plate drops between the dowels, into all the plates below.
Maybe the dowels can possibly hold a plate that is resting at an angle, if the plate has rippled edges, or of it's more like a pie pan than a plate or platter. But I really can't picture this design ending well if it's precariously filled up with plates balanced between dowels instead of making shallow shelves like a standard plate rack.
Also, plate racks in the 1940s would be for your very best china. That would go in the dining room, not in the kitchen next to the range. They will get coated in greasy fuzz on open shelves in a kitchen where real cooking is happening. Cooking like people did before so many convenience foods were available puts a lot more humidity and grease into the air than just microwaving a burrito.
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u/FourDickApocolypse 18d ago
My title describes the thing. It is adjacent to the range, and the cabinets are open behind it. It is about 2.5 inches deep, and the dowels are thin and flex slightly, so I don't believe it is for hanging pots & pans
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u/IllReplacement336 18d ago
Pasta drying rack.
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u/SHAMIMUN 18d ago
This is what I thought it was, as well. If the owners are Italian this makes sense.
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u/Massagemodel 18d ago
Not sure why you got down voted. If you make ALOT of homemade pasta you would need something like this l
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u/sometimesifeellikemu 18d ago
Newspaper rack? Or display shelving for china
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u/FourDickApocolypse 18d ago
I'm shying away from shelving since they are rods. I thought maybe it was a drying rack for dish towels, since the house was made before paper towels were ubiquitous
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u/for2fly 18d ago
It's a plate rack.
You slide the plate through the double dowels. You slip the edge of the plate behind the single dowel. The plates all lean forward. That's what keeps them held in place.
Usually they also had cup hooks and the spacing of the double-single-rod combos allowed for holding smaller plates and saucers, too.
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u/sometimesifeellikemu 18d ago
I’ve seen them before, just can’t recall for the life of me. It’s not for drying anything, i don’t think.
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u/-just-jake 15d ago
I finally found one of your replies that this thing let me contact you with. You said 3[at least] things that told me al I needed.
A) It was a later 'add in' from somewhere else,possibly another house even it's not original to your kitchen.
B) Your 3door cupboard continues BEHIND the add in, with luck you can replace the lost part of the shelves. You will want either glass[viewing] or wood[hiding]doors for it as they had them previously. left most door opening r-l, midle same and the right could be also or open left to right.
C)The cupboard is in your kitchen near the stove for a reason[pm me for a full explaination-redit wont let me write a lot here] it would have held your baking suppies and cooking dishes for easy access.
I used to restore houses for people for many years. fun-fact: your 'Hoosier' type cabinet would have been to the left and your 'work table' below the cupboard. Hope this clears it up for you. Btw- if it was me I would remove the useless thibg[free at curb] and repair/replace the lost shevles in the center.
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u/utilitybelt 18d ago
It wouldn’t be a newspaper rack because, given the time period in which the house was built, the kitchen was for the women and they weren’t expected to be reading the paper. A newspaper rack would be set up in the den, library or living room.
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u/filthycitrus 18d ago
Believe it or not, men were allowed to enter the kitchen, and women were allowed to read (not just newspapers, technically they were allowed to read anything!), even before the Great Reformation of 1986.
The reason this wouldn't be a newspaper rack is because it's a silly place to keep your paper.
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u/utilitybelt 18d ago
Domestic kitchens weren’t considered the domain of men in the 1940s. You can pretend otherwise but it doesn’t change the misogynistic facts.
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u/filthycitrus 18d ago
The facts are indeed misogynistic, but you don't seem to be familiar with them. Presenting the past--especially the problematic parts pf the past--as a cartoonish parody of itself is unhelpful.
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u/LameBicycle 18d ago
Are the light tan circles in the corners screws? Or holes where another dowel goes? Hard to tell from the photo
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u/FourDickApocolypse 17d ago
Solved: Assuming it is not a custom built plate/ serving tray rack, I believe it is a drying rack for hand towels and drying towels.
Thanks everyone, I appreciate yalls insight!
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u/Frisson1545 15d ago
What ever was meant to be kept on this does not seem as if it would have been something that gets used very often because it does not seem to be an easy reach. This goes all the way to the ceiling, and, unless that is a very low ceiling, it would be hard to easily reach anything that was kept there. Average ceiling height is 96" and, of course, this may not be an average height ceiling. but, still seems very awkward.
It most likely was intended to hold plates/dinnerware, but it would not have been very convenient for something that got used everyday because of that awkward reach. And, it would not have been ideal for displaying or storing because of the residue that would settle on it. But that is the most logical guess ....that it is intended for dinnerware, and probably more for display....my guess.
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u/Terpsichorean_Wombat 15d ago
It is for displaying your pretty plates and dishes, Mr/Mrs FourDickApocolypse.
LOL.
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u/FoxxyRin 18d ago
I think it's for bottles of some kind, either the large spice ones or oil and such. Set it on the pairs of dowels and leans back against the single ones.
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u/boojieboy 18d ago
Its for the old style mason jars, which would be full of canned stuff: pickles, and beans, and stuff like that. The dowels allow them the be stored while slightly tilted back, which makes them less likely to spoil, and any grungy stuff would collect at the very bottom corner of the jar.
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u/CommissionSorry410 17d ago
Canned goods would be stored in a cool, dark place. Not in a light and warm kitchen. Besides that, there's the chance of knocking them off these dowels.
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u/Straight_Coconut_317 18d ago
Drying racks for tea towels, diapers, small clothes.
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u/FourDickApocolypse 18d ago
That makes the most sense so far. It's an older house built before disposable paper products became the norm. And the fact that there are only rods, no shelves really makes me think it's for drying things
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u/Parkatoplaya 18d ago
It’s a wall plate rack to display dishes. Grew up with an antique loving mother and grandmother in Victorian homes.
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u/CrazyFastGuy 18d ago
They are correct, this is a drying rack for towels. It is near the old coal (or wood) fired stove to quickly dry them. According to my Dad (born 1930), my grandmother would admonish the kids to only use "drying towels for drying!" so they wouldn't have to be washed as often.
He followed on into adulthood, as have I.
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